< < <
Date Index > > > |
Beyond Capitalism? by Threehegemons 23 March 2002 15:03 UTC |
< < <
Thread Index > > > |
<Could it be that the concept of capitalism has changed along with globalization from the "right" perspective? The mode of production and means of exchanges now rides the wave of technological systemic swells at the global level through intra-firm relations, not inter-firm. This appears to be much different from the units of analysis that Marx or Smith for that matter were initially concerned with. Could it be, 18th century "Capitalism" has evolved into something more specific, "The Neo-Liberal Agenda"? Thus, it might not be so far off from the truth that "Capitalism" with its 'debated' eurocentric origins once existed but has evolved so much that it is now an entirely different species. Perhaps we should be more concerned with the origins of this later concept. What do you think?> Both the creation of huge transnational, vertically integrated business enterprises and the 'neoliberal agenda' are explicable as recurrent aspects of whatever-you-want-to-call-the-economic-system-of-the-last-few-hundred-years. The classic text highlighting these patterns is Giovanni Arrighi, The Long Twentieth Century. Intra-firm transactions are reminiscent of the process of 'internalizing' more and more aspects of the economic process by the largest actors. It is reminiscent in ways of aspects of Venetian and Dutch capitalism. But it is also in some senses giving way to an 'externalization' process epitomized by the expansion of subcontracting relations, the 'hollowing out' of firms of factories etc. This is reminiscent in ways of Genoese and British capitalism. The neo-liberal agenda has in ways been present during every 'financial expansion' in that there have always been agencies seeking to pry open economies and turn all means of production into commodities to be traded transnationally. Capitalism (or whatever) may be turning into something else, but I would not use these two phenomenon as evidence of such a change. Steven Sherman
< < <
Date Index > > > |
World Systems Network List Archives at CSF | Subscribe to World Systems Network |
< < <
Thread Index > > > |